Life after 'Lizzi' Marriott's Dover death

Tuesday

Oct 16, 2012 at 3:15 AMOct 16, 2012 at 8:53 PM

By JIM HADDADINjhaddadin@fosters.com

DOVER — Residents of Sawyer Mill Apartments said a wing of the third floor was blocked off by crime tape over the weekend as police investigated the death of Elizabeth Marriott, a University of New Hampshire student.
A knock at the door of the murder suspect, Seth Mazzaglia's, third-floor apartment went unanswered Monday evening. This was just a few hours after Assistant Attorney General Jane Young announced the Dover Police Department is now leading the investigation into the murder, which took place inside the 1 Mill St. building.
Mazzaglia, a 29-year-old actor and martial arts expert, has been charged with second-degree murder in connection with the crime. He was arraigned Monday and ordered held without bail in the Strafford County House of Corrections.
Marriott's body has yet to be located, and Young said the search could continue for several more days.The walkway to the Sawyer Mill complex, a spacious rehabilitated mill building, was dotted with flyers Monday asking the public for help finding Marriott. Volunteers distributed the flyers in Dover last week in hopes of locating the missing marine biology student.
They contained color photographs of the former high school prom queen and long-time aquarium volunteer from Westborough, Mass., along with offering a $10,000 reward for information of her whereabouts.One of the flyers was seen posted Monday evening against the wall of a laundry room on the third floor of the building, about 20 paces away from Mazzaglia's apartment door.
Friends and family have described Marriott as a fun-loving, trusting young woman with a wide circle of friends who was active in chorus and a prom queen in high school. She loved animals, volunteered at the New England Aquarium and helped put herself through school by working at Target.
Ken Ziniti, a store manager at the Target store in Greenland, said Marriott was one of the nicest young people he's met.
“Put a smile on everybody's faces,” he said. “She worked all over the sales floor, always out in front of the guests.”
Mazzaglia graduated from the University of New Hampshire in 2006 with a degree in theater. University of New Hampshire professor David Kaye, who once taught Mazzaglia in an acting class, said Monday that he had been a hard-working student who had a special interest in stage combat. He said people at the school feel for the victim's family and are shocked and saddened by what's happened.
“Everybody is sort of reeling from all of this news,” he said.
An acquaintance who encountered Mazzaglia on Friday, three days after Marriott's death, said the aspiring actor was “upbeat” and described his life as “really good.” Craig Faulkner, who works at a theater company where Mazzaglia had auditioned, said he chatted with Mazzaglia for about 20 minutes on Friday while shopping at Best Buy in Newington.
Mazzaglia, who was working in the store's video game section, said, “Life is good,” to Faulkner, producing artistic director at Seacoast Repertory Theatre in Portsmouth.
“I just asked him, 'How are things?' He said, 'Things are really good,'” Faulkner said.
Allison Abernathy, a 37-year-old Dover resident, said she encountered Mazzaglia numerous times in the area around the Sawyer Mill apartments. She said Mazzaglia discussed his acting career and his interest in martial arts with her, and also talked about his girlfriend. Abernathy said her relations with Mazzaglia were good, but he began to give her a strange “vibe,” and she was unnerved one night by one of his remarks.
“He said he had a short fuse, and that gave me a red flag,” Abernathy said.

A search for Marriott's remains was ongoing in the waters off Lookout Point on Peirce Island this week. Police first descended on the island Friday evening after receiving what they call “credible” information indicating Marriott is deceased. Investigators remained there until about 4:30 p.m. Saturday afternoon before re-opening the area to the public.

“That is because credible information has led us to that area,” Young said Monday. “Given the eddies and the currents, there have been a number of challenges.”

Young said the search may last several more days, and will involve the use of underwater cameras. Investigators are considering bringing in cadaver dogs for assistance. They have also notified authorities in Maine and Massachusetts to be aware of the search, in the event a body turns up on the coast.

Marriott, a 19-year-old sophomore, was living with her aunt and uncle in Chester this semester and commuting to UNH for classes. She was last seen on Tuesday, Oct. 9, the night police say she was allegedly strangled or choked to death inside an apartment on the third floor of the Sawyer Mill apartment building.

Investigators are asking anyone with information relating the murder of Elizabeth Marriott to contact the Dover Police Department at 603-742-4646.